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Agent J
Agent J (Jay, or just J') is a fictional MIB agent in the film ''Men in Black, its sequels Men in Black II and Men in Black 3, and Men in Black: The Series. Jay is portrayed by Will Smith in the three films and voiced by Keith Diamond in the animated series. Biography Early life Not much is known of the life of '''James Darrell Edwards III prior to being recruited to MIB. His appearance as a small child in 1969 in Men in Black 3 would place his year of birth in 1965. His father, US Army Colonel James Edwards Jr, was working security at Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo 11 launch when he was murdered by Boris the Animal after assisting Agent K in stopping a chain of events that would have led to K's death and a widescale invasion of Earth forty years later. Though young James was present at the event, K erased the young boy's memory of it, as he is unwilling to confess to him of his father's death that will scar him for life. James was left with no clear understanding of why his father wasn't around when he grew up, with nothing but his father's pocket watch to remember him by. Nothing else is known about the preceding twenty-eight years save that James became an accomplished police officer with the NYPD. It does not appear as if he had any family by the mid-1990s. Though little is known of J's personal life outside of his role as an agent of Men in Black, he is known to be a big fan of both video games, which he is seen playing in his off hours, and rap music. A line of dialogue from Men in Black II suggests his mother once bought him a Game Boy. ''Men in Black'' Agent J's MIB career starts out when, as NYPD officer James Edwards, he runs down a swift, wall-climbing alien on foot. When MIB Agent K notices his potential, he recruits him into the MIB (it should be noted that within the continuity of the series, the events of Men in Black 3 would imply that K recognized J from their meeting in the 60s). At first, Edwards is suspicious, but he decides to join. He is registered as Agent J and his energetic, enthusiastic attitude brings humor to a bland organization. J is not fond of K's diminutive references to him (son, sport, slick, kid, etc.), but gets used to it. In his various adventures, he encounters Frank, the dog; finds out that Jeebs, the pawn store owner is actually an alien, not just a buyer of stolen goods from chain snatchers like he originally thought when he was a detective; and delivers a baby squid. Their first official mission is to stop an alien Bug from leaving Earth with a tiny galaxy before the galaxy's owners disintegrate the planet. During the final confrontation with the bug, K is swallowed by it in an attempt to get his gun back, leaving J to keep him on Earth. When he starts squishing cockroaches, the Bug confronts him, but before it can attack him, K shoots it from the inside. The Bug was finally killed by Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino), a morgue worker. When K requests to be neuralyzed (a memory-wiping procedure) to retire, J fulfills the request and his new partner is Laurel, who becomes known as Agent L. ''Men in Black: The Series Agent J in this story is a partner of Agent K, who either retired or returned after being retired, J despite being one of the NYPD's best and most experienced, is considered a rookie by K and Chief Z, both never really let him drive an official MIB Car for unknown reasons.http://web.archive.org/web/19990116231756/http://www.mania.com/tv/features/mibcartoon.html Men in Black II At some point between the first and second film, L goes back to her morgue career, because J has gained a reputation for neuralyzing all of his partners for, in his opinion, unsuitability to work at MIB; at the beginning of the film, he neuralyzes his new partner Agent T because he forces T to admit that he joined the agency to be a hero, something that is fundamentally impossible in the Men in Black due to the secretive nature of the organization. Other than that, he has developed into a superb and highly respected agent. When he is sent to get K back to face a new threat to which only he had details of locked away in his mind, J's temporary partner is an alien disguised as a talkative pug, Frank. J investigates a murder at a local pizza joint committed by Serleena, the Kylothian queen who has arrived to find the Light of Zartha after destroying several planets. During the investigation, he meets and falls in love with an employee named Laura Vasquez. Despite the MIB's policy, J does not neuralyze her. J then heads to find Kevin Brown who holds the key to finding the Light of Zartha and stopping Serleena before she could get her hands on the Light. When K is de-neuralyzed, J is once again the rookie, but for revenge, J gives K the Noisy Cricket (the tiny gun that K saddled him with in the first movie, though it does have a strong blast). The duo discover the light is Laura, and J (reluctantly) allows her to fulfill her destiny as he and K finally destroy Serleena for good. During the film, J has a particular enmity with the alien criminal known as Jara, whom J stopped from stealing the Earth's ozone layer. Men in Black 3 In the third film J has become a well respected rank A, MIB agent, at some point in the present day a time-traveling alien goes back to 1969 and murders a young K, which could result in the end of the world as K was no longer present to establish a force-field that could permanently protect Earth from invasion by a dangerous alien race. Thanks to "being there" when the major moment in history changed (the instalment of the ArcNet), J was able to retain all memory of K. J travels back to 1969 to save his partner, although hampered by his lack of knowledge of K's personal life or the specific details of the case that killed him. To keep the present unchanged by Boris' interference, J advised K to kill the Boglodite instead of arresting him as in the original timeline. Despite the odds, J and the young K are able to activate the ArcNet force field around Earth and defeat the Borises with the older one getting burned to death by Apollo 11's exhaust; K killed the younger Boris after witnessing him killing a colonel, who was revealed after to be J's father. J also saw his younger self searching for his father and being neuralyzed of the event by the young K, who told the young James that his father was a hero. Following his return to the present timeline, J, now having remembered of his father's last moments, comes by to the old K and thanks him for watching his back, to which K responds that it was a 'privilege.' J's younger self was portrayed by Cayen Martin See also *Agent K *The Men in Black (comics), inspiration for the fictional characters and stories *Men in Black: The Series'' *''Men in Black 3'' References External links * * * Category:Men in Black characters Category:Malibu Comics characters Category:Marvel Comics characters Category:Science fiction film characters Category:Fictional African-Americans Category:Fictional police detectives Category:Fictional secret agents and spies Category:Fictional government agents Category:Fictional characters from New York City Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1997